Student involvement can
have impact on campaigns
— Page 6
Aggie water polo club tries
to garner attention for its sport
— Page 10
mum
MHV Texas A&M ^ a
The Battalion
Serving the University community
Vol. 81 No. 48 USPS 075360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, November 6,1985
B-CS officials
insure of effects
if overtime bill
By FRANK SMITH
Staff Writer
■ Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is co-
Bponsonng legislation designed to
Have state and local governments in
personnel costs, but officials in both
kyan and College Station said
Tuesday they weren’t sure how
much savings their cities would ex
perience if the bill passed.
Barton’s bill would revise portions
III the Fair Labor Standards Act re-
arding compensatory time off for
jtate, county and local government
mployees. It comes in response to a
LS. Supreme Court decision in Feb
ruary ordering these governments
fjo comply with FLSA provisions re-
■uiring the payment of overtime
Rages.
I Before the court’s decision, mu-
ipicipal governments had the option
fjof offering city employees compen-
■atory time off in lieu of overtime
■vages for employees’ overtime work.
Barton is attempting to restore this
fjbption as long as the practice is au-
Bnorized by a written agreement be-
| tween employers and employees.
B Georgia Langston, executive di-
Hector of personnel for the city of
Bryan, said compliance with the
FLSA provisions costs the city
$120,000. However, she said, Bar
ton’s legislation fails to change a por
tion of the FLSA which is responsi
ble for the majority of that extra cost
in Bryan.
i “It (the new bill) will help some,
but I can’t put a dollar marie to it,”
Langston said.
Karen Dickson, city personnel di-
jrector in College Station, said the
jcity hasn’t triea to estimate the fu
ture costs of FLSA compliance.
Dickson said the city’s police de-
rartment and parks and recreation
lepartment were most affected by
j the February court ruling.
Senior Stack
The dishes continue to pile up as Maria Jiminez
(far left) and Eva Benavides stack plates in the
kitchen Tuesday night at the Senior Induction
Banquet given by the Association of Former Stu-
Photo by WA YNE L. GRABEIN
dents for December graduates. John Ward, Assis
tant Catering Manager for the MSC, said he ex
pected about 620 students Tuesday night and
another 600 students for tonight’s dinner.
Water plan
will receive
state funding
Associated Press
AUSTIN (AP) — Texans ap
proved a $1.43 billion water plan
Tuesday, agreeing the proposal was
crucial to the state v s future.
With ballots counted in 239 of 254
counties, 73.8 percent of the voters
said “yes” to Proposition 1.
Proposition 2, the second half of
the water package, had support
from 69.75 percent of the voters
The vote total on Proposition 1,
the amendment needed to enact the
water plan, was 655,338 to 232,579,
and the vote on Proposition 2, aimed
at helping farmers nuy water-saving
equipment, was 605,459 to 262,586.
Gov. Mark White, Lt. Gov. Bill
Hobby and Speaker Gib Lewis cam
paigned extensively in support of
the package, whicn was approved
this year by the Legislature.
“Texas is the winner, our future is
secure,” White said Tuesday night.
“On the foundation of this victory
every community in Texas can build
a stronger future.”
Proposition 1 would authorize the
issuance of $980 million in bonds for
construction of reservoirs, pipelines,
treatment plants and flood control
projects throughout the state.
It also includes a $250 million
state insurance fund to back water
bonds issued by local governments.
The state backing would erase vir
tually any chance of default on those
bonas.
That would make it easier for lo
cal governments to sell those bonds.
Proposition 2 would authorize
$200 million in bonds for low-inter
est loans for farm equipment that
would reduce water usage.
Nearly 70 percent of Texas’ water
goes for agricultural uses.
Because voters have defeated wa
ter plans proposed by lawmakers in
the past, oackers of the 1985 plan
sougnt, and won, widespread, bipar
tisan support.
A mass mailing included
statements of support from White
and several of his potential Republi
can opponents — U.S. Rep. Tom
Loeffler, former Gov. Bill Clements
and former U.S. Rep. Kent Hance.
One environmental group —
Earth First — said that nipartisan
support was reason enough to be
suspicious of the plan.
Corpus Christi state Sen. Carlos
Truan called it “pork-barrel heaven
for the water hustlers.”
The financial interests of devel
opers could run roughshod over en
vironmental concerns, according to
Truan and other opponents.
Whitmire re-elected
mayor for third term
fe-summit talks
Khulte says U.S., Soviet Union still far apart on arms control
Associated Press
MOSCOW — Secretary of State
eorge P. Shultz wound up 14 hours
of "vigorous discussion” with Soviet
Leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and
ther Kremlin officials Tuesday,
laying the talks failed to narrow the
Superpowers’ differences on arms
control.
Shultz said that despite “serious
disagreements, the two sides had
pledged to work hard in preparing
{he Nov. 19-20 summit meeting be
tween President Reagan and Gorba
chev in Geneva.
“Basically, we have a lot to do,”
Shultz said.
In a news conference before de
parting for an overnight refueling
stop in Iceland, Shultz tempered his
downbeat appraisal of the two-day
visit by observing “we see some posi
tive developments” in the U.S.-So
viet relationship.
But he was unable to cite any ma
jor area of reconciliation or prospect
of an accord for the first superpower
summit in more than six years.
In fact, Shultz said, he would not
bet on an agreement in principle be
tween the two leaders on how to pur
sue a treaty to curb the arms race.
Philosophically, Shultz said “life
does not end in the middle of No
vember.” He said the possibility of
additional meetings between the
leaders was “before us but nothing
has been settled.”
He said later the four-hour ses
sion was “a very vigorous exchange
that covered everything.”
He twice described the talks as
“frank,” which in diplomatic par
lance often means considerable dis
agreement.
But Shultz said, “It was far from a
shouting match. The discussions
were straightforward, always quite
cordial and I think they reflected
our desire to use the time well.”
Besides arms control, Shultz sin
gled out regional issues and human
rights.
Soviet spy given permission to return to USSR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Vitaly Yur
chenko, the Soviet spymaster who
lipped from the CIA’s grasp after
Jhree months in America, was
granted permission to return to Rus-
iia Tuesday after assuring U.S. au-
horities he was not being forced by
the Soviet Union to go home.
Yurchenko, clenching his hands
over his head like a victorious boxer,
eft the State Department after a
half-hour meeting and declared,
“Yes, home!” when asked if he was
heading back to the Soviet Union.
With four Soviet diplomats on one
side and six State Department offi
cials on the other, Yurchenko had
his first face-to-face meeting with
U.S. authorities since he walked
away from their custody over the
weekend, after three months in the
United States.
Yurchenko had appeared at an
extraordinary news conference at
the Soviet Embassy Monday, charg
ing he had been aoducted in Rome,
drugged and pumped for secrets by
the CIA. The State Department den
ied the charges, saying Yurchenko
had voluntarily defected.
As a result of his meeting on
Tuesday, “the United States govern
ment has decided that Mr. Yurchen
ko’s decision to return to the Soviet
Union was made of his own free will,
and that he is now free to leave the
United States,” State Department
spokesman Charles E. Redman said.
“In arranging this meeting we
wanted to satisfy ourselves that Mr.
Yurchenko truly did wish to return
to the USSR and that he made this
decison freely and of his own voli
tion,” Redman said.
He said the meeting was held in
an atmosphere free of the possibility
of Soviet coercion and that Yur
chenko was told he would not be
subject to U.S. detention or returned
to Soviet custody •
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Mayor Kathy
Whitmire won a third two-year term
Tuesday, building a comfortable
margin over former five-term mayor
Louie Welch in a campaign that fo
cused on the city’s response to the
disease AIDS.
With 95 percent of the vote
counted, Whitmire had 181,460
votes, or 56.8 percent, to Welch’s
136,154 votes, or 42.6 percent.
“This is a wonderful moment,”
Whitmire told cheering supporters.
“I believe tonight we’ve sent a mes
sage to the nation. Because of your
love, we sent a message that Houston
has made great progress, that we’re
working to make this city the best
city to live, to work, to do business
and to raise families. I believe it’s
time to put differences behind us
and to move forward.”
Welch blamed his defeat on a
lower turnout than he expected.
“We have known all along that
with any count (turnout) less than
400,000 it would be very difficult to
win this race,” Welch said in a con
cession speech. “It appears this
400,000 will not come. I want you to
know that campaigns can change the
city — even losing campaigns do
change the destiny of a city.”
Eight political newcomers calling
themselves the Straight Slate sought
City Council seats in a campaign
based on adopting public health
rules to protect residents of the na
tion’s fourth-largest city from AIDS.
None of the candidates was close to
leading.
In at least two races, however,
enough votes were going to Straight
Slate candidates to force a runoff.
Pre-election polls in the non-parti
san race gave Whitmire, 39, as much
as an 18-percentage-point lead over
Welch, 6o, who had Been president
of the Houston Chamber of Com
merce since retiring from public of
fice in 1974.
Langley wins
judgeship in
local election
A mere 16 votes gave attorney
J.D. Langley the Brazos County
Court at Law No. 2 judgeship
over opponent Sonny Lyles in
Tuesday s special election.
In the only race on the ballot
1 locally, Langley, a Republican,
garnered 2,722 votes or 50 per
cent of the votes over Lyles’s
2,706 votes or 49 percent.
Langley, currently an assistant
district attorney, is a former
Texas A&M student and a 1983
graduate of the South Texas Col
lege of Law.
Langley, 33, will take over the
judge position on Jan. 1 and must
run for re-election next Novem
ber if he wishes to keep the seat.
Cults offer religious alternatives to young adults
BySONDRA PICKARD
Reporter
Say the word “cult” and thoughts
of robed fanatics with shaved heads,
idling flowers in airports and sing-
ng loud chants to promote an ur
gent cause come to mind.
This is not always the case.
Negative reactions to cults are
sometimes justifiable, but the word
wlfand the majority of the groups
■hssified as such are often misun-
derstood and unfairly judged by
those practicing conventional reli^-
gions.
J. Gordon Melton, author of "The
Cult Experience”, terms them “alter
native religions” and describes them
as basically alien religions that are in
compatible with the dominant cultu
ral environment.
They are perceived as using so
phisticated techniques of coercive
behavior to recruit and hold mem
bers.
Although alternative religions
may be inconsistent with the more
traditional churches, few use the
kind of “brainwashing” techniques
that they are frequently accused of.
There are, according to Melton,
more than 600 religious groups in
the United States and Canada that
could properly be termed alternative
religions, including the Church of
Scientology, Zen Buddhism and the
Unification Church. Membership in
these groups is growing so fast that
they are moving out of the alterna
tive religion classification and into
more conventional denominations.
With more than 600 alternative
religions, or cults, in the United
States, one begins to wonder why
they are of such great appeal and to
whom.
Dr. Richard Stadelman, professor
of religious studies at Texas A&M,
says cults offer people a type of
meaning in life.
Cult members find acceptance in
the group where they can’t find it
elsewhere.
“A young person can break free
by denying the religious values of his
parents,” Stadelman says. “People
that feel isolated and unwelcomed in
their churches are offered love, har
mony and acceptance.
“It’s like a mighty football rally for
most, only it continues even after the
game’s over.”
The Jonestown incident was a tra
gic example.
Nine hundred people committed
suicide under the leadership of the
Rev. Jim Jones, reinforcing even
more the emotional charge the word
cult connotes.
Stadelman says that the group
had the same beginnings as many
other alternative religions do.
“Jim Jones’ initial success was a re
sult of nis reaching out to those who
had missed the mainline boat,” he
says. “He picked a target group that
had been left out of society including
young drug abusers and older peo
ple wno felt abandoned by everyo
ne.”
Since cults appeal to young, rela
tively isolated people looking for al
ternatives, college campuses are of
ten typical recruiting grounds.
Although there have been a few
cults in the past, Stadelman says
A&M is certainly not a haven for al
ternative religions, probably because
of a strong conservatism among the
student body.
Three years ago, The Unification
Church was represented on campus
and the group^s leader was a candi
date for president in the Pre-Theol
ogy Club, he says.
bescribed by Melton as the best-
known cult in America, Unification
Church members have been termed
See Cults, page 12